I might be a complete bonehead but none of our project has been easy except getting the tank in the first place! The type of character who goes for this stuff usually want to do their own thing but I'd avoid casting a tank if I could......apparently real ones are now very thin on the ground .Ours is a Canberra that came from Rod Hadfield .There was a guy at the meet this year by the name of Darren Visser who ran the Chamberlain Tractor , he reckons he has two Canberra tanks ...apparently he has been seen at the Indian shop in Ashwood (Vic) ......try Jim there....good luck ....best if you're mad , or single if you're gonna scratch build a tank.

...few understand what I'm trying to do , but they vastly outnumber those who understand why..

...........I believe there are some made from steel , if you can find one of them it would be a damn sight easier to sort the bodywork than having to Tig the Al ,dunno how common they are , they're probably rarer than RHS.

...few understand what I'm trying to do , but they vastly outnumber those who understand why..

If you don't mind my tuppence worth, I must say that there is some emotional/sentimental level that in me says don't go the fibreglass route.

Belly tanks have a particular 'found object' used in a new way attraction to them, and have limitations and opportunities associated with that shape.

For example, the rules of the game for our car have been dictated by the shape from the tank. We made the decision that we did not want to extend the tank and maintain its shape as a) it is the most efficient shape wind tunnel tested, and b) non extended tanks look better. (the Broughams will argue it is better to stretch though for space).

This has been both a burden and a godsend. The burden bit is obvious, but the godsend part is that there are so many decisions to make when scratch building a car that it actually helps to have such a defining set of parameters as the belly tank itself. It reduces the number of decisions from infinity to a finite number.

If you are scratch building a tank out of fibreglass then you can make it any size or shape. There is some limitation of molds available, true, but essentially you open up a whole new can of worms, and to my mind the spirit of the nature of these cars is broken.

John Lynch's car is a great car, but it is not a belly tank, it just looks like one. It is a hand built lakester, so is GM's Ecotec Lakester.

Al Fountain's is a belly tank, and something from the purist in me says they are different. Something akin to a kit car (or a replica) and an original. (No offence John!)

In my mind if you are going to scratch build the body, then you mosewell go for the best shape possible for the insides that you wish to build (like Lynch did although it feels like its back is broken...?) and avoid artificial constraints.

You could build a streamliner and go faster due to superior aero than a lakester. Why build something slower because you like the "look".

Finally, who wants a plastic car?

These are just some thoughts from a fellow belly tank builder. It is better to think them now rather than two years down the track methinks.

Besides I want to see the best Belly Tanks possible in the club, and there already is a great lineage growing.

Hi Speedster
here's a link to Jon Amo's site in the US where we have a thread "Australian Belly Tank" there's a couple of photos there including one of a nude man on a bicycle...and some of our hi-tech research and developement facilty

I like the spyder's colour. I had a Renault Floride that colour but with a bit more blue (and probably even less metal - post war steel restrictions!) "Mitchell" Blue I think its called after a US singer in the '50's favorite jumper colour.

They are still plastic cars though and I cannot help think that plastic cars are toy cars.